LTI integration guide

Introduction
Overview
Before you start
Setting up the LTI connection
Troubleshooting
Links

Introduction

Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) is a standard for integrating learning applications with educational environments, such as Learning Management Systems (LMS). Emended uses LTI to offer an easy way of integrating Emended to your LMS.

This guide is meant for users who are integrating to Emended using LTI from a ready-made LMS with LTI support.

Overview

In LTI terminology, your LMS functions as a Tool Consumer, and Emended functions as a Tool Provider. Since the integration is based on the LTI specification, no changes are required to either your LMS or to Emended, as long as your LMS supports LTI out-of-the-box. This is the case for most common LMS.

The basic features of Emended LTI integration are:

Teachers and students link their account in your LMS link their Emended account
When logging in for the first time, the users create a new Emended account or log in to an existing account to create the link
After the first log in, the users can automatically access Emended from your LMS without having to log in
Teachers that access Emended from your LMS automatically join your team in Emended

The steps to setting up LTI integration are:

Sign up for a team in Emended
Create LTI credentials in Emended
Enter LTI credentials in your LMS
Create the link in your LMS

Before you start

Emended offers LTI integration to teams with an Emended PREMIUM subscription. Make sure that you have the correct subscription in effect before starting. LTI can also be used by teams on the free team trial.

Make sure that your LMS comes with support for LTI.

Make sure that the roles in your LMS are configured correctly. The users who have instructor role in your LMS are automatically added to your team in Emended.

Setting up the LTI connection

Configuring Emended as LTI Tool Provider

First, you’ll need to configure Emended as a Tool Provider.

Log in to Emended with your account, or register a new account if you don’t have one yet. Access the team admin view for your team, and then enter the LTI configuration tab on your team management page.

Press the button to create a new LTI integration. Enter a description that will help you recognize this LTI integration, such as the name of the LMS you are using. This is particularly important if you are planning to create multiple LTI integrations, so you don’t accidentally use or remove the wrong one.

After creating the integration, it will be assigned the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret, and the LTI Launch URL is also displayed. These are the values you will enter in your LMS in order to access Emended. Always keep your Consumer Secret safe!

If you use multiple different LMS, you must create a separate LTI configuration for each in Emended.

You are now ready to configure LTI in your LMS.

Configuring your LMS as LTI Tool Consumer

Log in to your LMS and access the configuration for a new LTI Tool Consumer. Depending on your LMS, this can also be called “External Tool”, or other names.

Enter the following settings for the new Tool Consumer:

Launch URL: the value from Emended
Consumer Key: the value from Emended
Consumer Secret: the value from Emended
Launch container: new window
Do not use embedded mode for Emended, as Emended uses cookies and some browsers have limitations in allowing cookies for embedded pages
Privacy: share user’s name and email
These are not mdandatory, but can be used to improve the experience of your users in Emended

Where to find the LTI configuration and what settings are available depends on your LMS. Please read the documentation for your LMS for more details.

You are now ready to use the link from your LMS to Emended.

Using the LTI connection

To use integration, create a link or an assignment in your LMS using the LTI Tool Provider you configured in the previous step.

Make sure to test the link before making it available for other teachers or students in your organization. Create a link that other users cannot see, access Emended and make sure the connection behaves as you would expect.

Pay special attention to user roles: the teachers in your LMS should gain instructor access to your team in Emended, and the students in your LMS should only be logged in without joining your team in Emended.

Troubleshooting

If the LTI link is not behaving as you would expect, the issue is most likely in the launch parameters provided by your LMS. You can investigate these parameters using an online tool, such as the Tool Provider Emulator linked below.

For more information about the launch parameters, you can check our LTI tester tool which explains all the parameters, as well as the authentication mechanism in more detail.

If you’re unable to get the integration working, we’ll be happy to help. Just get in touch at support@emended.com and describe the problem you’re having. Never send your Consumer Secret to us via email.